It’s a country constantly in the news, but also portrayed through a western lens. This week, it’s time to search for another Persian perspective through the prism of music and poetry for some golden discoveries …

African to bluegrass, Haitian to jazz, classics to the unexpected, this resonant instrument has a long history. Guest of the week Uncleben brings the fast and the melodious in a set of fabulous picks inspired by last week’s topic

It may immediately make you think of The Beverly Hillbillies or Deliverance, but this bright, resonant, plucky instrument has a long history with origins in another continent, and spans many stories, cultures and genres

Fleeting but spectacular, their mutable beauty is annually inspirational, and with ideas budding from last week’s theme, guest of the week ParaMhor picks a splendid spread of musical colour

Their brevity very much integral to their beauty, they are simple yet also complex in their burst of colour. These flowers of stone fruit trees have been inspiration for artists, poets and songwriters for centuries

New album: Exquisite, delicate, ethereal finger-picking folk by the Norwegian singer-songwriter in this third album, one that poetically and musically inhabits a mysterious half-dream state flitting between two worlds

New album: After several years of excellent EPs and singles such as Drive, a much anticipated and strong rock-pop debut by the London singer-songwriter who delivers catchy, energising numbers, here themed around wanting the warmly craved feelings of love, lust and relationships, but also finding overwhelming of being squashed and consumed by them

New album: An eclectic, dramatic, polyrhythmic mix of jazz, modern classical and drum’n’bass by the experimental British musician and producer Tom Jenkinson, in this dramatic, abstract, cerebral and cinematic release featuring a host of instruments from bass to chamber strings and harpischord

New album: Mesmeric, slow-build, mid-tempo, woozy, psychedelic-electronica folk of gentle, personal, reflective dark humour, profundity and melancholy by the Isle of Eigg-based Scottish musician Johnny Lynch in his sixth LP, here produced by Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP themed around metaphorical ooze, transformation, exhaustion, hope, guilt, and renewal

New album: The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist turns his skills to another passion – trumpet – and the result is an absorbing, eclectic, fusion of experimental jazz, electronica, spoken word of six originals and four covers, with collaborators including Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Tortoise’s Jeff Parker, and Nick Cave